George, who had heard just the last of the sentence, said, “Oh, does Emerson have a rugby team? Are they playing this weekend? I’d love to watch a game. I’ve never seen one, except on the Sports Channel.”
“Sorry, George,” Ned replied, grinning. “No rugby team. I think Cyril tried to organize one last year, but he couldn’t scrounge up enough players or anyone to play against.”
“So you’re saying nobody much cares who the new president of the IFC is,” Nancy said.
“Nobody but Vlad and Dina,” Ned said. “They seem to care a lot. For most of the club members, all that matters is to get someone who’ll do a good job. If you ask me, either of them would do that.”
Bess, who had been looking around, asked, “What’s the story? Are we going to hang here a while longer? Because if we are, I think I’ll get a slice of pizza.”
“We’re waiting for Dina,” Ned told her. “As soon as she shows up, we can head over to the dorm and drop off your stuff. But, hey, if you’re hungry, go ahead, enjoy.”
“Anybody else?” Bess asked. They all shook their heads.
The big oak entrance door was flung open with a bang just then. A girl with short brown hair rushed in. Her face was red and her jaw was clenched. She scanned the crowd. Her eyes passed quickly over the group around Nancy, then when they reached Cyril and Vlad, her body stiffened.
Three long, quick strides carried her to where the two guys were standing. She lifted her right hand, in which she had clenched a crumpled sheet of paper and waved it in Vlad’s face.
“You worm!” she said loudly. “Filthy Rethal worm!”
Cyril put his hand on her shoulder. “Now, now,” he said. “Draw it mild.”
The girl brushed away his hand and took another step toward Vlad. She pushed her face forward until it was only inches from his.
“You will retract this,” she declared angrily. “At once, in public, and in full. If not, I will make sure you regret it for the rest of your miserable life!”
She whirled around and snatched a cup half-full of water off the nearest table. Just as she flung the contents at Vlad, Cyril took a step forward. The water hit him right in the face.
3
Hearts and Daggers
Cyril wiped the water off his face. Nancy grabbed a handful of paper napkins and ran to give them to him. The shocked silence was broken by somebody’s nervous giggle.
The girl who had thrown the water took in a quick breath and clapped her hand over her open mouth. “Oh, Cyril,” she blurted out. “I am so sorry! I didn’t mean—”
“That’s all right, Dina,” Cyril said. “I was planning to take a shower this week anyway.”
The quip wasn’t that funny, but it broke the tension. People around the room laughed. Nancy noticed that neither Vlad nor Dina joined in.
“What were you so upset over?” Cyril continued.
Dina’s face, which had turned pale after she threw the water, flushed again. “This . . . this garbage!” she said, waving the piece of paper.
Cyril took the paper from her and scanned it. Nancy peered over his shoulder. The paper was a printout of an e-mail message.
BCC: <dina14@emerson.edu>
From: Friends of International Friendship <fif@fif.org>
Subj: Urgent! Alert!!!
To all who favor International Friendship: The treasurer of the Emerson College International Friendship Club secretly supports terrorist organizations based in GORVONIA and backed by the outlaw regime in power there. YOUR MONEY has been stolen to help these hooligans commit dreadful crimes against the peaceful citizens of neighboring Rethalstan . . . .
“A nasty bit of work,” Cyril said. “Vlad, is this your doing?” He passed the paper to Vlad, who scanned it quickly.
“Even to ask me such a question is an insult,” Vlad declared, sticking his chin out. He gave the paper back to Cyril. “I have never seen that before. But now I read it, I wonder if it is true.”
“You gorabshik!” Dina hissed.
Nancy had never heard the word before, but she could tell from Dina’s tone that it was not a compliment.
Penny put an arm around Dina’s shoulders and led her a few feet away. Vlad made a move to follow, but Cyril blocked his path and started talking to him in an undertone.
Ned took the printout from Cyril’s hand and walked over to the window to read it. Nancy joined him. As she passed Bess and George, she noticed Lance pointing to the bike trip brochure and talking to them earnestly.
“Who are these ‘Friends of International Friendship’?” Nancy asked Ned. “Have you ever heard of them?”
Ned shook his head. “Nope. Sounds phony to me.” He pointed to the lines of small print at the bottom. “According to the header info, this came through the college’s anonymous server. That means whoever sent it had to have access to the campus LAN. That stands for Local Area Network.”
“And whoever sent it had to know Dina’s e-mail address,” Nancy said. “Is there any way to tell who else got this?”
“I doubt it,” Ned replied. “The sender kept the list of recipients blind. That’s what those letters BCC mean. Let’s check my mailbox.”
Nancy followed him over to a computer terminal and waited while he typed in his user name and password.
A list of a dozen e-mail messages appeared on the screen. Ned tapped one with his forefinger. “There it is,” he said. “Urgent! Alert!!! And if it came to me, it’s a safe bet that everyone in the IFC got one.”
“And who knows who else?” Nancy added. “But we should make sure about that. If so, it’s an important clue. It proves that the poison-pen writer got his hands on a copy of the IFC membership list. How easy would that be to do?”
